Tag: University Neighborhoods Development Corporation

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Work Begins on Highland Strip Walkability Upgrades

Credit: University Neighborhoods Development Corporation

The Highland Strip is getting a pedestrian-friendly facelift as work began last week on a $6 million project from Midland to Southern.  

The project will calm traffic along the strip, aiming to improve safety for all, especially pedestrians. Improvements will include a raised traffic table at the intersection of Midland and Highland. The device raises the entire wheelbase of a vehicle to reduce its traffic speed. A new mast arm traffic signal will direct traffic at the intersection. 

The project will bring two new signalized crosswalks on Highland, as well. It also includes raised medians with plantings, new street trees, new sidewalks, and landscaping along both the east and west sides of the roadway, asphalt paving, and new streetlights.

“This project will be totally transformational for the Highland Strip and the surrounding neighborhoods, creating a much safer, walkable, and enjoyable environment,” said Cody Fletcher, executive director of the University Neighborhoods Development Corporation (UNDC). “We expect these improvements will help transform the area from its current use as a high-speed cut-through artery to a more pedestrian-friendly and neighborhood-centric atmosphere.”

UNDC and MFA, the project manager, funded the project with proceeds from the Highland Revitalization Tax Increment Financing (TIF) program, with financing provided by FirstBanks. 

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University District Starts on a Refresh

CREDIT: University Neighborhoods Development Corporation

University Neighborhoods Development Corporation

Works has begun and will continue in the University District to make it more walkable with slower car traffic and more police cameras to ”discourage and decrease criminal activity” in the area.

The intersection of Walker and Highland will soon have a new crosswalk, thanks to funds from the Highland Revitalization tax increment finance deal approved for the district in 2016. Officials expect the deal to generate $21 million for the district over the next 20 years.

University Neighborhoods Development Corporation

The new crosswalk will have LED signage, reconfigured sidewalks, large planters, new median features, and a painted ground mural, according to a Friday newsletter from the University Neighborhoods Development Corporation (UNDC).

“Improving pedestrian safety and access to businesses is the primary goal for this project,” reads the letter form UNDC. “Its expected to slow vehicle traffic, while allowing for greater walkability and ease of crossing Highland Street on foot.“

The UNDC recently hired local planning and design firm Looney Ricks Kiss to “re-imagine” the Highland Strip from Midland to Kearney, with a focus on streetscapes and traffic.

University Neighborhoods Development Corporation

The study includes, “parking and traffic studies, access management, opportunities for better parking solutions, utility relocation, railroad quiet zones, and ways to slow traffic to promote business success.” The study is expected to be finished next month.

University Neighborhoods Development Corporation

Last month, work began to install 27 SkyCop cameras and license plate readers in eight locations in the district.

Here’s where the police cameras are located:

• intersection of Highland and Midland

• intersection of Highland and Mynders

• intersection of Highland and Walker

• intersection of Highland and Southern

• mid-block Walker

• intersection of Walker and Brister

• intersection of Mynders and Brister

The license plate readers are at:

• intersection of Highland and Midland

• intersection of Highland and Southern

The plate readers are to “capture all vehicle traffic passing through the area.”

“The cameras are positioned to discourage and decrease criminal activity in the Highland Strip and Walker Avenue business districts, as well as near the new student housing developments just east of Highland,” says the UNDC. “Future phases will expand the network deeper into the University District.”

And remember Spin Street? The atrium of former record store at the corner of Highland and Poplar was, for years, the home to an enormous picture of Elvis Presley in gold lamé. The store closed in 2017 and Elvis has been missing from the corner for awhile.

But the UNDC partnered with the University of Memphis and Poplar Plaza for a brand new installation. Check it out:

University Neighborhoods Development Corporation

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Urban Canvas

CREDIT: by Christopher Parks

The University Neighborhoods Development Corporation has a special interest in the intersection of Highland and Southern, what it calls the heart of the University District.

“If you stand on the railroad tracks in the middle of Highland and turn 360 degrees, we’d like you to see something — a strong, visual statement about this community — in every direction,” executive director Steve Barlow says.

Not that Barlow actually wants anyone standing on the tracks. But he does want community participation for public art around the university.

The university-area development corporation has partnered with the U of M’s art department to create several community-driven public art installations. The project is being funded with an $18,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis, the United Way, and the university.

The project will also include lighting improvements, signage, and neighborhood banners.

Currently in its infancy, the project already has included two billboards advertising the upcoming artwork. One was up very briefly. The other, in front of a newly painted mural on the wall of the Peddler Bike Shop on Highland, reads, “This temporary mural … will be replaced by one that YOU create.”

U of M art professor Cedar Nordbye says content for the Peddler mural came from preliminary meetings with neighborhood and business associations and open public meetings.

“The community’s goal is to give itself some sense of a cohesive identity,” Nordbye says.

Students in two of Nordbye’s classes this semester will be involved with generating ideas and art for the project.

“The classes will be dedicated to making artwork that interacts with or comes from the neighborhood,” Nordbye says.

As part of the 4th annual Highland Walker Festival in October, a second large mural will be installed on the wall of the Goodwill store. Other proposed sites for murals include the construction fence at the northeast corner of Highland and Central, an unused sign in the parking lot of Garibaldi’s on Walker, and a north-facing wall adjacent to the Easy Mart parking lot at the corner of Highland and Southern.

Though not providing any funding for the project, the UrbanArt Commission is acting in an advisory role.

“We’re providing insights into streetscape possibilities and best practices of public arts facilitation,” says UrbanArt executive director John Weeden.

Weeden says community-based art projects such as this one create a sense of place through shared storytelling and group art production.

“When you have that connectedness to each other, and to one’s home, you have a stronger, more vital community overall,” Weeden says.

To find out how you can participate in the University District Public Art Project, visit the public art forum at www.memphisundc.com.